Yilan City could only be considered a small city by Hell's standards.
Its city walls, over thirty meters tall, were built entirely from black jade ore.
Black jade ore was the most common mineral in Hell—but common did not mean inferior.
On the contrary, its hardness ranked among the very best in all of Hell.
Black jade refined from this ore, even without being forged into a divine artifact, was something even demigods would struggle to damage.
It was an indispensable material for forging divine artifacts, used by the vast majority of the divine beings in Hell.
Walls of this thickness meant that even an ordinary god would need several full-force attacks to breach them.
As for the massive city gates—although they weren't as thick as the walls—their toughness surpassed the walls entirely.
That was because the gates were forged directly from refined black jade and tempered with divine power. In terms of hardness, they were no different from true divine artifacts.
Before the gates, the line of people waiting to enter Yilan City consisted entirely of divine beings.
Saint-level existences, in Hell, were nothing more than "slaves" and had no right to enter a city.
Only by following behind a deity—either as family or servants—could they gain entry.
Even then, the entrance fee to Yilan City was one inkstone per person. Under normal circumstances, no one would waste an inkstone just to bring a Saint-level slave into the city.
Ridiculous, wasn't it?
Inside Yilan City, a single meal at an inn could easily cost close to a hundred inkstones.
Buying an ordinary set of clothes would cost three to five hundred inkstones.
And yet, bringing a Saint into the city required only one inkstone.
Even so, those allowed inside would rather spend hundreds of inkstones on food and drink than spend a single inkstone to bring a Saint along.
As a result, those Saint-level servants could only squat on an open patch of land far from the city gates, gazing at the line of mighty figures with envy-filled eyes.
Among this group of Saints, a middle-aged man's pupils suddenly contracted. He quietly shifted his body, hiding behind a much larger figure.
"Damn it… it's him."
With just one glance, he recognized Locke.
He never would have imagined that a routine hunt would cost him everything.
Having lost his strongest divine clone, his Saint-level true body no longer qualified to enter Yilan City at all.
And all of that bandit leader's cultivation resources had naturally been carried by that strongest divine clone.
Watching Locke enter Yilan City, the former bandit leader quietly slipped away, darting into the forest and heading toward the place where he had ambushed Locke earlier.
Now, all he could do was pray that Locke had discarded his spatial ring there.
If he could retrieve it, he could use the resources inside to purchase a fire-aspect mid-level godhead, refine it, and restore his strength.
If he couldn't…
Before, he had used his Saint-level true body to masquerade as a servant in order to scout for fat prey.
In the future, he might truly become nothing more than a servant.
…
After entering Yilan City, Locke wandered around for a while.
He soon discovered that divine beings weren't the only ones inside the city—there were plenty of Saints as well.
However, these Saints were almost all family members of the gods who lived in the city, permanent residents who had purchased homes and settled down as "Yilan natives."
Even though they were only Saints, the way they looked at Locke and the other gods entering from outside carried a faint trace of disdain.
As though they were city folk—and Locke and the others were nothing more than uncouth country bumpkins.
Of course, no matter how contemptuous their gazes were, they weren't foolish enough to openly provoke divine beings.
Divine grace was as vast as the sea; divine might was as oppressive as a prison.
They might look down on Locke due to their origins, but in terms of strength, every being qualified to enter Yilan City was someone these Saints had to look up to.
Following the other gods deeper into the city, just as Locke had expected, they soon arrived at a marketplace.
Here, many god-level beings as well as demigods set up stalls to sell items they no longer needed.
Others displayed lists of things they wished to buy, with gods occasionally stopping to browse.
Unlike markets in material planes, however, most of the stallholders here were gods.
Their negotiations were conducted entirely through divine sense.
This prevented prying eyes from eavesdropping.
Although those with stronger divine sense could, in theory, forcefully listen in, doing so would immediately provoke attacks from everyone present.
Fortunately, Locke found the map he needed in the marketplace.
After some bargaining, he purchased it for 1,320 inkstones.
At the same time, he successfully sold the two mid-level godheads he had obtained, netting 19,000 inkstones.
…
"A miscalculation…"
Outside Yilan City, Locke looked at the map in his hand and sighed softly.
Originally, he had planned to register as a demon at Yilan City's Demon Castle and select missions that happened to be along his route.
That way, he could save travel time while earning extra rewards.
What Locke hadn't expected was that, at this point in time, Hell didn't yet have any so-called "Demon Castles."
Left with no choice, he tried to find a team traveling in the same direction, hoping to hitch a ride.
But after staying in Yilan City for a full month—spending almost all of his inkstones—he still hadn't found a group willing to accept him.
In this era, bandits were rampant throughout Hell. Without familiarity or trust, no team would take in a stranger.
Who knew whether you had a divine clone secretly passing information to bandits?
In the end, Locke had no choice but to set off alone toward the Purple Thorn Mountains.
"Once I gather enough inkstones, I'm definitely buying a Metal Lifeform."
Watching figures streak rapidly across the sky, Locke couldn't help but feel envious.
Even the lowest-grade Metal Lifeform could travel at least a million li per day.
Moreover, unlike gods, Metal Lifeforms didn't tire. As long as they were supplied with divine power, they could fly endlessly.
If Locke had one, he might reach the Purple Thorn Mountains in little more than ten years.
Flying on his own, however, would take at least fifty years.
After confirming his direction, Locke stopped hesitating. He transformed into a streak of rainbow light and shot toward the Purple Thorn Mountains.
Yet he hadn't been flying for long before a sense of danger surged through him.
He looked up—
Only to see dozens of streaks of light tearing through the sky, shooting up from the ground straight toward him.
(End of Chapter)
T/N: Hell is the Infernal realm. This is one of those things I know isn't the exact name on the original translation that I'm sticking to.
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